Christ, unlike us, π°π’π₯π₯ππ to take birth, die and resurrect. Being absolutely non-contingent, He voluntarily chooses to be contingent. The Creator becomes actively passive in His Creation. He incarnates as an infant reliant on his mother’s milk. He becomes so dependent that he doesn’t even own a place to lay his head (Lk. 9:58). In a nutshell, from cradle to grave, Christ chooses to be at the mercy of His Creation. This, by worldly standards, makes Christianity a foolish faith however we know that “God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength” (1 Cor. 1:25).
Our Creator is big enough to be small yet we bear no resemblance to Him. Today in this narcissistic age, we are severely offended by dependence and even consider it a matter of shame. We have glorified the concept of independence insofar as we can’t handle being indebted to anyone in any form whatsoever. Chad Bird prays;
“Come, Lord Jesus, and steal our independence. We pride ourselves on needing no one. Standing on our own two feet. But itβs all a lie. And a rather comical one at that. The lady standing in the grocery store line thinks of herself as an independent womanβbut without farmers sheβd have no groceries to buy. Without construction workers thereβd be no store. Without her employer sheβd have no money. Without assembly line laborers, sheβd have no car to drive them home in. And without seamstresses, sheβd be standing there buck naked. Independent? Hardly. Our lives are thoroughly enmeshed in a web of dependence. Come, Lord Jesus, steal our self-important arrogance and replace it with God-given gratitude for all that you do for us through the hands of others.”
Independence is in fact an imperial lie propagated as truth to keep people at bay and the social fabric frayed. Empires would try by hook or by crook to impede people from congregating in any way for that would jeopardize their existence. Thus Ricardo Levins Morales subversively remarks;
“If you give me a fish you have fed me for a day. If you teach me to fish then you have fed me until the river is contaminated or the shoreline is seized for development. But if you teach me to organize then whatever the challenge, I can join together with my peers and we will fashion our own solution.”
It is in this socially exclusive context that Christ utters his radical promise; “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among themβ (Matt. 18:20). The invitation of Christ to congregate, completely thwarts the imperial propaganda. Christ the Lord is inaugurating a new Kingdom; a Kingdom of radical inclusion. This is why “he prepares a table for us before our enemies (Ps 23:5) so that we may reconcile with them because none can afford to be excluded no matter what.Β
~ Dayroyo Fr. Basil
Urho, The Way 